Pittsburghers know that the times are out of joint. Somehow they're expecting the prosperity to blow up in their faces.
Fortune Magazine, 1941

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

The Pre-Game

There is always the pre-game. So before check the census numbers about to be bestowed upon us... it is good to look at what we think we know. Here are past data points for the total populations of the city, county, region and state and what the latest estimates for each tells us where we think we are. This is what will be worth comparing to the numbers when they come imminently. or 2pm they say.

City of Pittsburgh

2000: 334,438

2009 Estimated: 311,747

If we extrapolate simply, 2010 would be: 309,907

Census 2010:??

Allegheny County

2000: 1,281,666

2010 Estimated: 1,220,510

Census 2010:??

Pittsburgh 7 County MSA

2000: 2,431,087

2010 Estimated: 2,354,197

Census 2010:??

Note that if you are comparing MSA’s between 2000 and 2010, the definition of the region changed over that time.So you may be looking at a 6 county region if you are comparing populations.

The largest county is Philadelphia, with a population of 1,526,006. Its population grew by 0.6 percent since 2000. The other counties in the top five include

Allegheny, with a population of 1,223,348 (decrease of 4.6 percent); Montgomery, 799,874 (increase of 6.6 percent); Bucks, 625,249 (increase of 4.6 percent); and Delaware, 558,979 (increase of 1.5 percent). (Philadelphia city and county cover the same geographic area.)